ATHENS, Ga. – The men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Georgia Relays in Athens, Ga., last weekend and had several impressive individual performances.
Senior Jennifer Howard, who won the Southern Conference Indoor 400-meter dash championship, picked up right where she left off, winning the 400m in a time of 56.62 seconds.
The Lady Bucs also had several other strong performances in the 400m, as Tiffany Collier followed Howard with a fourth place finish in 58.56 and Kim Simmons was two tenths of a second behind Collier in fifth at 58.76.
The three 400m runners then came back later in the meet, teaming with Tawny Davis, to take first place in the 4×400-meter relay in 3 minutes and 50.19 seconds.
ETSU came back from fourth place early in the race to take a more than four-second victory over the University of Toledo (3:54.63).
In the distance races, the Lady Bucs also received a victory from sophomore Emily Chaney in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Chaney finished in 12:07.67 for a more than 20-second victory over Carthage College’s Jen Zdroik.
Natasha Peyton also recorded a top-five finish for ETSU, placing fifth in the 100m in 12.16.
In the field events the Lady Bucs also earned several top-five finishes. Sophomore Cheryl Howard earned a fourth place finish in the high jump with her jump of 5 feet and 4.25 inches.
Simmons placed third in the long jump with her jump of 17’08.25″, with teammate Kristen Truman placing fifth with a jump of 17’03.5″.
On the men’s side, sophomore David Haefner made it a sweep of the 3000-meter steeplechase for ETSU, leading from start to finish.
Haefner finished in 9:32.05, winning by more than seven seconds over Eastern Illinois University’s Eric Gruberman (9:39.86).
Freshman Brad Yewer also earned a top-five finish for ETSU, placing second overall in the 1500m in 3:57.89.
Yewer held off the University of Georgia’s Chevazz Brown by just four one-hundredths of a second to secure second place for the Bucs.
Freshman James Grufferty earned a top-five finish in the 10000m run, finishing third place in 32:00.83.
In the field events, Rhett Ezzell placed fourth overall in the high jump with a jump of 6’02”, while Chad Hyder earned another top-five finish for ETSU in the shot put with a throw of 44’07”.
The Bucs’ 4×400-meter relay team also placed in the top-five with their fifth place finish. The team consisted of Yewer, Kaylin Chesney, David Cabbler and Clint Davis.
The track team will next compete in the Clemson Relays on Saturday.

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